ai4bharat/Pralekha huggingface dataset:
Ministry of Defence
DRDO establishes COVID-19 Testing Facility at DIHAR, Leh
DRDO has established a COVID-19 testing facility at the Leh based laboratory Defence Institute of High Altitude Research  to enhance the rate of testing to identify the Corona cases in the Union Territory of Ladakh. The testing facility will also help in keeping close watch of the infected persons. The facility meets the safety standards and guidelines of Indian Council of Medical Research . The centre was inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh, Shri RK Mathur on 22nd July 2020.
The testing facility at DIHAR is capable of screening 50 samples per day. The facility can also be utilized for training manpower for COVID testing and will be of great help to address future bio-threats and carrying out R&D activities pertinent to agro-animals diseases.
In his address, LG Shri RK Mathur lauded the efforts of DRDO in fighting Covid 19 and thanked Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D & Chairman DRDO for making this facility available at DIHAR. He expressed hope that the facility will help in the treatment of infected persons.
The Lieutenant Governor also inspected the testing facility. He was briefed about the bio-safety aspect of the testing facility and precautionary measures to minimize cross-contamination and safety of researcher, health professionals and the environment.
Dr OP Chaurasia Director DIHAR, Brig JB Singh Commandant, Dr Padma Gurmet Director NRISR, Leh, Dr Mutup Dorjey CMO along with his team of doctors from SNM Hospital, Leh and other senior army officials and DRDO scientists were present on the occasion.
DIHAR is one of the life sciences laboratories of DRDO working on cold arid agro-animal technologies. The laboratory is screening and identifying the medicinal and aromatic plants to exploit them for use for defence purposes and also on greenhouse technologies for high altitude and cold desert areas.
Prime Minister's Office
PM gifts cows to villagers at Rweru Model Village, as part of the Rwandan Government's Girinka Programme
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today gifted 200 cows to villagers who do not yet own a cow, under the Rwandan Government's Girinka Programme. The function to mark the handing over of cows was held at Rweru Model Village, in the presence of Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
(Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister appreciated the Girinka Programme, and President Paul Kagame's initiative in this regard. He said people in India too would be pleasantly surprised to see the cow being given such importance as a means of economic empowerment in villages, in faraway Rwanda. He spoke of the similarity in rural life in the two countries. He said that the Girinka Programme will help transform villages in Rwanda.
Background
The word Girinka can be translated as ‘may you have a cow’ and describes a centuries-old cultural practice in Rwanda whereby a cow was given by one person to another, as a sign of respect and gratitude.
Girinka was initiated by President Paul Kagame in response to the alarmingly high rate of childhood malnutrition and as a way to accelerate poverty reduction and integrate livestock and crop farming. The program is based on the premise that providing a dairy cow to poor Girinka Programme transforms livelihoods, reconciles communities improving agricultural productivity through the use of manure as fertilizers which would lead to improving soil quality and reducing erosion through the planting of grasses and trees.
Since its introduction in 2006 hundreds of thousands have received cows through the Girinka program. By June 2016, a total of 248,566 cows had been distributed to poor households.
The program has contributed to an increase in agricultural production in Rwanda - especially milk production and products, reduced malnutrition and increased incomes. The program also aimed at promoting unity and reconciliation among Rwandans based on the cultural principle that if a cow is given from one person to another, it establishes trust and respect between the giver and beneficiary. While this was not an original goal of Girinka, it has evolved to become a significant aspect of the program. The program also follows a certain criteria in choosing who the beneficiaries should be. As per a Govt. of Rwanda official, they mainly look at those very poor vulnerable families that don’t own a cow but do have land that can be used to grow grass for feeding the cows. The beneficiary should be in position to construct an animal shed or willing to join others in community to construct a communal cow shed to be jointly used with the rest.
Ministry of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises
Government announces inclusion of Retail and Wholesale trades as MSMEs
Minister of MSME and Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari today announced revised guidelines for MSMEs with inclusion of Retail and Wholesale trades as MSMEs. In a Tweet he said under the leadership of PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji, we are committed to strengthening of MSME and make them engines for economic growth. Shri Gadkari said the revised guidelines will benefit 2.5 Crore Retail and Wholesale Traders. He said Retail and wholesale trade were left out of the ambit of MSME, now under the revised guidelines, retail and wholesale trade will also get benefit of priority sector lending under RBI guidelines.
With the revised guidelines the Retail and wholesale trades will be now be allowed to register on Udyam Registration Portal.
Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Relaxation of FDI Norms
Review of Foreign Direct Investment  policy is an ongoing process and changes are made in the FDI policy regime, from time to time, to ensure that India remains an attractive investment destination.
FDI in various sectors is allowed in a calibrated manner after having intensive consultations with stakeholders including concerned Ministries and Departments, State Governments, apex industry chambers, associations and other organizations taking into consideration their views and comments. FDI policy on various sectors, indicating therein sector-wise FDI limits is, provided in the ‘Consolidated FDI Policy Circular of 2017’, as amended from time to time through subsequent Press Notes, which are available on the website of Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade at www.dipp.gov.in.
While FDI policy lays down an enabling framework for attracting foreign investment, Ministry of Home Affairs has laid down detailed guidelines for assessment of proposals from national security point of view. In order to boost economic growth without compromising the security of the country, proposals are evaluated on the basis of their potential threat to nation’s unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty.
This information was given by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, PiyushGoyal, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Prime Minister's Office
PM congratulates men's Coxless Four Rowing Team for winning Bronze at Asian Games
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has congratulated Ashish, Bheem Singh, Jaswinder Singh & Punit Kumar of India's men's Coxless Four Rowing Team for winning Bronze Medal at Asian Games 2022.
PM Modi noted incredible determination and coordination of the team to achieve this remarkable achievement.
PIB Headquarters
Kerala Governor calls for attracting FDI into marine products sector
Kochi: Kerala Governor Shri Arif Mohammad Khan today inaugurated the 22nd India International Seafood Show  here, calling for efforts to attract foreign direct investment  into the sector for increasing employment opportunities and boosting the country’s seafood exports through an innovative model based on diversification and value addition.
Delivering his inaugural address at the three-day showpiece event of the marine industry, Shri Khan expressed confidence that India would be able to increase its share in global seafood trade from the present 4.1 per cent to 6.7 per cent by 2030 by increasing production, value addition and diversification.
“Blue evolution: Beyond Production to Value Addition” is the focal theme of the biennial event being jointly organised by the Marine Products Export Development Authority , the nodal agency of Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry, and the Seafood Export Association of India .
Highlighting the importance of seafood, the Governor pointed out that 40 per cent of the global population live within 200 km from seacoasts and 12 of the 15 mega cities are on the coasts. In India alone, about 40.5 million people are involved in the fisheries sector, which also contributed one per cent to the gross domestic product , he noted.
Oceans and fisheries had always fascinated the imagination of Indians as the first incarnation of Lord Vishnu was in the form of a fish, he explained.
Billed as one of Asia’s largest seafood fairs, the IISS is being held in Kochi after a gap of 12 years. Over 1,500 delegates, 50 of them from 12 foreign countries, are attending it to deliberate on policies and actionable roadmaps to achieve the country’s marine products export target of US$10 billion by 2022.
Among others who addressed the inaugural function were MPEDA Chairman Shri K.S. Srinivas, his predecessors Leena Nair and G. Mohan Kumar, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation  Chairman Dr. Christy Fernandez and SEAI National President Jagdish V Fofandi.
On the occasion, MPEDA launched an online certification scheme “Shaphari” for the farmers to ensure quality produce, bereft of anti-biotics which hindered exports.
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PIB Headquarters
PIB’S BULLETIN ON COVID-19
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- 180.40 cr vaccine doses have been administered so far under Nationwide Vaccination Drive
- India's Active caseload currently stands at 33,917
- Active cases stand at 0.08%
- Recovery Rate currently at 98.72%
- 4,722 recoveries in the last 24 hours increases Total Recoveries to 4,24,46,171
- 2,568 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours
- Daily positivity rate 
- Weekly Positivity Rate 
- 77.97 cr Total Tests conducted so far; 7,01,773 tests conducted in the last 24 hours
#Unite2FightCorona #IndiaFightsCorona
PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU
MINISTRY OF INFORMATION & BROADCASTING
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Ministry of Electronics & IT
Government of India Gives 4 Months’ Rental Waiver to the IT Companies Operating from Software Technology Parks of India  Centers
In view of the challenges thrown by COVID19 outbreak and consequent lockdown, the Government today took a major decision to provide relief from payment of rental to the small IT units operating out of the Software Technology Parks of India . Most of these units are either Tech MSMEs or startups.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology  has decided to provide rental waiver to these units housed in STPI premises in the country from 01.03.2020 till 30.06.2020 i.e. for 4 months period as of now.
Software Technology Parks of India  is an autonomous society under Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India and it has 60 centers across the country. The initiative to provide rental waiver to the units located in these centers will provide relief to the industry in this crisis situation emerged due to COVID19 pandemic. This initiative will provide benefit to nearly 200 IT/ ITeS MSMEs, operating from these 60 STPI centers. The total cost of the rental waiver provided to these units during 4 months period from 01.03.2020 to 30.06.2020 is estimated to be around Rs. 5 Crore. This effort is also in the larger interest of around 3,000 IT/ ITeS employees who are directly supported by these units.
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment
Two Days Sensitization workshop at Indore. MP.
Best practices/success stories of various State Governments, Activities of National
Institutes.
The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India is organizing a two day sensitization workshop under the augustpresenceofDrVirendraKumar,MinisterofSocial Justice & Empowerment along with all the Ministersfrom all the State Governments/UTs and also to the Principal Secretaries/Secretaries from all the State Governments/UTs on various schemes and benefits of Government of India, which also includes ADIP, SIPDA, Scholarships, National Fund schemes.
During the inaugural function the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment will also inaugurate a dedicated software on ADIP Portal which will capitulate all the beneficiaries across the country. Further ADIP Portal implement to uploading the data of all beneficiaries and distribution of camps which will ensure that there is no duplicity and also serves one point portal for the details of all the beneficiaries of all the ADIP Camps.
MG/RK
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Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Update on National Programme for health care of elderly
To provide dedicated health care facilities to the senior citizens  at various levels of primary, secondary and tertiary health care and to address various health related problems of elderly people, the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare had launched the “National Programme for the Health Care of Elderly”  during 2010-11.
Objectives:
- To provide accessible, affordable, and high-quality long-term, comprehensive and dedicated care services to an Ageing population;
- Creating a new "architecture" for Ageing; to build a framework to create an enabling environment for "a Society for all Ages";
- To promote the concept of Active and Healthy Ageing;
- Convergence with National Rural Health Mission, AYUSH and other line departments like Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
NPHCE has a National Health Mission  Component consisting of Primary & Secondary care service delivery through District Hospitals , Community Health Centres , Primary Health Centres , Sub-Centre/Health & Wellness Centres. It has also a Tertiary Component providing services through Regional Geriatric Centres  located at 19 Medical colleges in 18 states of India and two National Centres of Aging  one in AIIMS, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi and another in Madras Medical College, Chennai. Further, a Longitudinal Ageing Study in India  project, a nationally representative survey of older persons in India, was undertaken through International Institute of Population Sciences , Mumbai during 2017-18.
In order to further strengthen and broaden the scope of National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly and also help in establishing a range of preventive and health care programmes for older population, a nationally representative survey of older persons in India LASI  was conducted  under NPHCE. The survey covered all 30 states and 6 Union Territories of India with a panel sample size of 72,250 older adults aged 45 years including 31464 people above 60 years of age and above and their spouses regardless of age. The report of LASI Wave-I along with State wise factsheets and India factsheet was released by Hon’ble Union Health Minister on 6th January 2021. Further, there is a provision of Research on specific elderly diseases at Department of Geriatrics in the Regional Geriatrics Centre & National Centre for Ageing.
The National Programme for Palliative Care , National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment , National Mental Health Programme , National Oral Health Programme , National Programme for Prevention & Control of Deafness  and National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke  are the other programmes which also cater to health needs of Elderly.
The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Bharti Pravin Pawar stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
Ministry of Steel
Steps to Enhance Steel Production
Market dynamics including international developments such as imposition of limits on adding new steel capacity in key areas and measures like increase in the export tariff, scrapping export tax rebates on steel products are also kept in view by individual steel manufacturing companies while taking various business decisions. Steel being a deregulated sector, the role of the Government is that of a facilitator. The Government has taken the following steps to enhance steel production in the country:-
- Notification of Domestically Manufactured Iron & Steel Products  Policy for promoting procurement of Made in India steel.
- Notification of Steel Scrap Recycling Policy to enhance the availability of domestically generated scrap.
- Issuance of Steel Quality Control Orders to stop manufacturing and import of non-standardized steel.
- Notification of Steel Import Monitoring System  for advanced registration of steel imports.
- Notification of Production-Linked Incentive  Scheme for Specialty Steel with an outlay of ₹6,322 crores.
- Engagement with various stakeholders including industry associations and leaders of domestic steel industry to address their issues by the concerned Ministries/Departments of the Central Government and State Governments.
- Engagement with relevant stakeholders including from Railways, Defence, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Housing, Civil Aviation, Road Transport and Highways, Agriculture and Rural Development sectors to enhance the steel usage and overall demand for steel in the country.
- Establishment of Project Development Cell in the Ministry to attract and facilitate investment in the steel sector.
The total steel production capacity of the country as on June 30, 2021 is 143.91 million tonnes.
This information was given by the Union Minister for Steel Shri Ram Chandra Prasad Singh in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Prime Minister's Office
PM hands over chaadar to be offered at Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi today handed over the "Chaadar" to be offered at Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, Ajmer Sharif, to the Minister of State for Minority Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, and Minister of State in the PMO, Dr. Jitendra Singh, in New Delhi.
The Prime Minister has also conveyed greetings and best wishes to Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti’s followers across the world, on the occasion of his annual Urs.
In a message, the Prime Minister said that Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti is a symbol of the great spiritual traditions of India. He said Gharib Nawaz’s service of humanity would remain an inspiration for future generations. He offered his best wishes for the successful conduct of the forthcoming Urs.
Ministry of Finance
Central Government relaxes provisions of TCS under section 206C of the Income-tax Act, 1961 in respect of non-resident individuals visiting India
Section 206C  of the Income-tax Act, 1961  provides for collection of tax by a seller of an overseas tour programme package from a buyer, being a person purchasing such package, at the rate of 5% of the amount of the package.
Representations were received from domestic tour operators who were facing difficulties in collection of tax from non-resident individuals visiting India who were booking overseas tour package from such domestic tour operators. Since such persons may not have a PAN, tax is required to be collected at higher rates. Further, such non-residents may find it difficult to furnish their ITR and claim refunds.
In order to remove such difficulties, the Central Government, in exercise of powers conferred under section 206C of the Act, has specified that the provisions of the said section shall not apply to a buyer being an individual who is not a resident in India in terms of clause  and clause  of section 6 of the Act and who is visiting India. Hence, a domestic tour operator is not required to collect tax on sale of overseas tour package to non-resident individuals visiting India.
Notification No. 20 of 2022 dated 30.03.2022 has also been issued and is available on www.incometaxindia.gov.in under the Notification Section.
Election Commission
General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana, 2023
The Commission has prepared the Schedule for holding General Election to the Legislative Assembly of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana after taking into consideration all relevant aspects like climatic conditions, academic calendar, board examination, major festivals, prevailing law and order situation in the State, availability of Central Armed Police Forces, time needed for movement, transportation and timely deployment of forces and in-depth assessment of other relevant ground realities.
The Commission, after considering all relevant aspects has decided to recommend to the Hon’ble Governors of the States of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana to issue notifications for the General Election under the relevant provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
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Ministry of Culture
A 2 day vibrant performance of dance drama based on life of Raja Rammohun Roy at Kartavya Path concludes today
Highlights :
- Dance Drama titled 'Yugpurush Raja Rammohun Roy' based on theme Nari Samman concluded today.
- Presentation was also a part of campaign under which cultural programmes are to be organised at Central Vista every week
- The event was also part of year long celebration of 250th birth anniversary of Raja Ram Mohun Roy
A two day enthralling and opulent dance drama based on the life of Raja Rammohun Roy, who is called the father of modern Indian society, concluded today. The dance drama was organised today at Kartavya Path and India Gate . Titled 'Yugpurush Raja Rammohun Roy', the program was based on the theme 'Nari Samman', and is being organised by Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation of Ministry of Culture.
The dance drama attracted large crowds and the audience enjoyed the performances and the colourful presentation of the characters.
A one-year long celebration was launched by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India on May 22, 2022, on the occasion of the 250th birth anniversary of Raja Rammohun Roy, as part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
This audio-visual presentation is also a part of campaign under which cultural programmes are to be organised at Central Vista every week. Directed by well known choreographer Neelay Sengupta.
The dance drama based on the life of Raja Ram Mohan Roy familiarised the audience with his great works, high ideals and philosophy of life closely. The performance began at 6.00pm and admission to this program was completely free for all.
Born on May 22, 1772 in Radhanagar, Bengal, Raja Rammohun Roy played a remarkable role in the religious, social and political reforms of India. He was the founder of Brahmo Samaj and always promoted modern and scientific approach.